


Houdini's Vanishing Elephant (And how to find it)

by Lady_Calliope



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Dogs, Drugs, Gen, Maybe other characters - Freeform, Mystery, Post S2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:07:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Calliope/pseuds/Lady_Calliope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a string of disappearances that seem like the work of a magician turn into something sinister, Karen finds herself in situations she never imagined, and finds enemies and allies alike in the least expected places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Houdini's Vanishing Elephant (And how to find it)

Allen Sullivan was thirty six. He was married to a Jennifer Sullivan and had two sons, Danny and Oscar, aged ten and seven.  
He had a sister who lived in Canada, and his parents lived down in Florida.   
He had been an electrician for twenty years.  
Allen Sullivan, as far as anyone could tell, had lived one of the most ordinary, generic lives a human being could live.  
Twelve days ago, he had walked into a café and ordered a black coffee. By the time it was ready, he was gone, and hadn't been seen since.

Karen Page wanted to know why.

"It's been twelve days, Karen. We ran a sad piece on his family searching, it's done" Ellison stood at the door to the office. She nodded, already looking back to the files spread out in front of her. Not that there was much to go on. Three people had seen him ordering his coffee, and not a single one saw him leave. How did a man just vanish into the city?   
"I just have a gut feeling we're missing something obvious" she argued. Even though she wasn't sure if she trusted her gut anymore "People don't just vanish into thin air"  
"No. They leave, quietly, to escape…debts. Or a bad relationship, or an addiction. It's Hell's kitchen Karen, sometimes people disappear" Ellison sighed. It was late, she noted. He wanted her to go home.  
"Criminals disappear. He doesn't strike me as one. Isn't there anything else we can find? Debts or…shady business deals? Anything that might explain why he-"  
"It's Hell's Kitchen. People leave, nobody cares. It's a waste of time" he concluded, cutting her off " Don't get wrapped up in it. Go home, get some sleep. Not everything is some great conspiracy".  
She agreed, to go home at least. Spreading the files on her floor, she sat with a notepad in one hand and determination grit between her teeth. To her chagrin, Ellison appeared to be right. There was nothing. No leads to follow, no inconsistencies in reports, no history to dig into. Allen Sullivan was gone, and the world continued as normal.

The next day, Nicole Lemanski, twenty seven, excused herself to the bathroom on a date and never came back.  
Four days after that Alex Byer, forty two, went out for a cigarette break and was gone within two minutes.  
A day later, Jason Mudd, nineteen, walked back into the diner he and his friend had just left, because he had left his wallet. He never came out.  
Two days after that, Regina Trudeau, thirty four, was walking to the dog park a two blocks from her house to meet a friend, and never reached it.

After a week of ever increasing disappearances, Karen started searching again. A week after that, she finally had a breakthrough "I have a lead " Karen called triumphantly, waving the file above her head. Ellison glanced over the sheet he was handed "Yeah, Regina Trudeau, another disappearance. I thought it was the same as the rest, no leads, no inconsistencies"  
"Petal" Karen grinned triumphantly "Regina was walking to the dog park with a three year old Dalmatian, Petal, when they both vanished. Except Petal wasn't her dog, it's her neighbour's dog. She just walks her occasionally. If she left of her own accord, why take the dog?"  
"She liked the dog and thought she'd be a better owner?"  
"Maybe, but unlikely. She has a cat too, why take a dog that isn't yours but not your own cat? So if she didn't leave of her own accord, she was taken. A Dalmatian is a big dog, pretty recognisable. Petal never showed up back home, or the dog park. So I called around every shelter I could find that took large breeds. Only two had Dalmatians, and one of those had a young, female Dalmatian handed in"  
Ellison stared at her like she had gone insane "Okay…so you found the dog. How is that a lead? Somebody finds it wandering, hands it in to the nearest shelter"  
"That's where I got lucky. I knew the place she had been handed into, we…Nelson and Murdock…helped the owner out once. It's not a normal rescue. They only take fighting dogs. Sometimes from other rescues, sometimes the police, sometimes directly from people who don't have the heart to…to get rid of a dog themselves"  
"So you think Petal got stolen for fights?"  
"Or…sold, by a kidnapper who suddenly found themselves with a large dog. It's a stretch, but that dog is the only eyewitness we have. If I can find out anything about who took her in, where they got her…" she trailed off, the plan sounding more ridiculous by the second. What was she expecting, the dog to give an accurate description of the events and the ability to pick somebody out a line up?  
"It's worth a try" she said allowed, interrupting her own thoughts "And…at least I can get her neighbour her dog back"  
"If you think it'll help. It's better than nothing"  
"Okay" she nodded, packing the file back into her bag "Guess I'll go see a man about a dog"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic and I'm really not sure where I'm going with this, but hopefully it's going to be okay.


End file.
